Content marketing for accountants
Content marketing is one of the main ways for accounting firms to reach potential clients online. The benefits of content marketing for accountants go beyond web traffic and social media engagement; when done strategically, it can support your reputation and authority, help to acquire leads, and ensure awareness of your brand is maximised in your local area.
How content marketing works
Content marketing isn’t simply about writing an article, putting it on your website and then forgetting about it. It requires careful research and the publishing of content at the right time. To get the most from your efforts, you’ll need to take the following steps:
Research – This includes research to understand your target audience and what their specific needs are. What are their pain points when it comes to business or personal finance? Are there changes to the government’s Budget or HMRC guidelines that will affect them?
Create – The content you create should be shaped by the topic you’re addressing. You might choose to post an article on your blog that explains a subject in detail. Or you might decide that an infographic works better for the type of information you want to present. Don’t forget that videos, podcasts and webinars are all useful forms of content that engage users too.
Convert – Add calls to action to the content to prompt conversion. You can always link to a contact page or web enquiry form to make it easier for consumers.
Promote – Once your content is created, don’t simply put it on your site and move onto the next task. Distribute it via social media or on an email newsletter to ensure potential and existing clients know about it.
Analyse – Even when you’ve done all the above, there’s still one more aspect to address: how your content performs. Track the levels of engagement through your analytics software and determine which content is generating the most interest. From there you can refine your strategy to make it more effective.
Content marketing tactics for accountants
Now that you have the basics it’s time to explore the tactics that will hold your strategy together. Here’s how to ensure your content marketing works hard for you.
- Research your target market
Marketing for accountants involves careful research. Before you write a single sentence or plan a single podcast, you need to know who you want to talk to. Is your piece aimed at businesses looking to merge with or acquire another organisation? Is it aimed at sole traders with an annual income of under £50,000? Is it intended for non-doms?
Once you know what the client you’re aiming to attract looks like, you can begin to create content that resonates with them. Do this by asking the following questions:
- What financial/accounting issues are they facing right now?
- How can you help them solve these issues?
- What are their business or personal goals?
You can even carry out some research into the needs of your current clients to help you create content for potential ones. You may find some key themes arise among several respondents, and by addressing these you’re providing something of value not only to those existing clients, but also to consumers you’re hoping to convert.
- Research keywords for SEO
When you’ve decided on some topics for your content, you’ll need to conduct some keyword research. This will tell you what kinds of queries your intended clients use to find accountancy practices like yours on Google.
There are several keyword tools available to help with this, which will typically give a monthly search volume for a particular term as well as an indication of how competitive the term is. Make a list of the keywords you think will be worth targeting and aim to incorporate them into your content.
- Conduct competitor research
Knowing what the competition is up to can inform your own content efforts. By scoping out their strategy you can see which keywords they’re ranking for, learn which topics they’re covering in their blog ,and find out what they’re doing to optimise lead generation.
Bear in mind when you’re researching competitors that their content may be aimed at different audiences from your own, so keep your own target market at the front of your mind when finding out what works for the competition. You can always adapt your findings to suit your own audience’s needs.
- Create a content schedule
A key part of your strategy should be the creation of a content schedule. This will help you stick to regular content production, and ensures you always have something to publish. Organise your topics, taking into account any seasonal requirements such as submission deadlines for tax returns and government Budget announcements. If you have the time, you can always supplement your planned content with reactive pieces when necessary.
Even if you only start with one blog post and a few social media posts per month, you can establish an efficient routine there. Over time, you’ll get better at communicating with your audience more regularly.
- Target all areas of the funnel
Marketers often talk about the ‘funnel’ or ‘buying cycle’, and this refers to the place a consumer is in their journey towards engaging a provider for products or services. Your content strategy should target clients in all stages of this funnel.
Top-of-funnel content is for users who need a broad question answered. They’re in the first stages of research, so your content should be as informative and authoritative as possible. They’ll primarily be looking at blog posts and social content.
Middle-of-funnel content is for users who have a specific problem for which they need a solution. At this point, they’re likely comparing accountancy practices and looking for testimonials, case studies and service pages.
Content for the bottom of the funnel should be aimed at those who are at the point of converting. They’ll be looking at your service pages, contact page and perhaps client reviews too. Ensure you have clear and compelling calls to action on the relevant pages, enabling them to get in touch easily.
Help with your content strategy
If you’re looking for help with SEO strategies for accountants, look no further than Whitefish Marketing. As a specialist marketing agency for accountants, we can help you create and adhere to an effective content strategy that covers all stages of the funnel. Get in touch today to discuss your requirements.
